Studio - 1. Sky.[Ariola Records] May 1979.

Tristan Fry drum kit & percussion	Kevin Peek acoustic & electric guitars	Francis Monkman piano, synths & harpsichord	Herbie Flowers electric & string bass	John Williams acoustic guitars

Originally Released: May 1979

Peak position in UK charts: 2 (June 1979)

Availability: A remastered CD was released in February 2005 on the Castle Music label (part of the Sanctuary Records Group and should be fairly easy to find. In case of difficulty, you can always try HMV (No, I don't make money from suggesting them).

Even if you own or are planning to buy the 1994 Music Club edition (which is also the basis for various European and Australian pressings), of which multiple copies float around on eBay at any given time), I seriously advise buying the new remastered one as well, because it sounds much better. (The newly remastered version does not include the bonus track of Dies Irae.)

In the meantime, click on the track title to hear/download an MP3 sample from the track (roughly one minute in all cases). I don't include the full tracks for a multitude of reasons, and never will.

Short Review:A ground-breaking release for its time (prog rock at the tail end of the punk boom?), this album showed what five musicians who were virtuosos of their instruments could do together. The highlights are without a doubt Francis Monkman's two compositions, Cannonball and the five-movement abolsutely stunning Where Opposites Meet. This really was a meeting of styles and approaches to music-making. Carillon set the trend for Sky to include a straight, simple tune on each album, played without any histrionics, and Eric Satie's Gymnopedie paved the ground for further classical arrangements, not all as calm as this one! Dies Irae, which most fans heard for the first time when the previously (little-sold) single was included on the CD release ten years later, is further indication of Francis Monkman's unique compositional and arranging talents for this particular ensemble. Agree? Disagree? Have your say in the Forum!